Dave Alvin aren't content simply to stick warmed-over Zoom riffs into the tunes; they add distinctive touches without trying to turn the band into their own.

They couldn't do that even if they wanted to, because Cervenka and Doe's new songs are among the sharpest they've ever recorded. On the bicoastal romance "You," Cervenka plays off lush harmonies to sketch in the details of her lover's lament; the near-autobiographical "Surprise Surprise" charges through the incongruities of a rocker's life. The stunning, ambitious title track is a dour state-of-the-union message, and the album's first track, "I'm Lost," is as energetic as a song about loneliness can be.

Dave Alvin's sole songwriting contribution before he left the band was the powerful "4th of July," which matches the most uplifting arrangement the group has ever recorded with the moving tale of a decomposed relationship. The discord between Doe and Cervenka's soaring vocals and Alvin's dread-packed lyrics sparks fires.

See How We Are probably won't break X commercially, even if it is the apotheosis of marketable music with bite, because the band is still too heavily identified with the rock-radio no-no – punk rock. That's dreadful. Almost eight years after recording its first album, X has grown from America's most explosive punk-rock band to one of mainstream rock's worthy off-kilter exponents. The band sounds as if it needed to play what it does; and we need to hear it. (RS 510)

JIMMY GUTERMAN